New Mutants (Marvel 2000)

New Mutants #1 - Into the Badlands (1)

CONROY, WISCONSIN

NOW

Illyana Rasputina, the mutant known as Magik, twisted the hilt of her glistening soulsword between her tightened fingers as she grimaced from behind the protection of the blade. It had been years since the mutant sorceress, then capable of simply casting "stepping discs" to allow teleportation, had succumbed to death via the Legacy Virus. It seemed so surreal that she would once again stand alongside her former friends, even if the situation they had once again found themselves in was less than fortuitous. As a child of Limbo, tormented and tortured beyond even the worst of nightmares, Illyana had been unable to slip peacefully into the night. Even after her friends, the so-called New Mutants, had rescued her, the Russian had been haunted by the experience and, as her body decayed in the cold earth of the Xavier Institute, her soul had been forced to once again endure the endless assault of the demon Belasco and his demonic hordes. Illyana had risen from the experience stronger, more competent, but she carried herself with a darker edge. When death should have been her ending, it had set the path towards a new beginning.

Axe brandished his weapon, the broad-shouldered brute had expected the slender blonde to be intimidated by him as all his previous victims had been. It was common that enemies much larger than her underestimated Illyana but when the legions of demons had descended upon a woman, it tended to alter her perception of fear. Without hesitation, a slight smirk even formed on her thin lips, Magik stormed forward, holding the blade high above her head. Axe swung low, aiming directly for her abdomen, but she sidestepped his assault and landed one of her own. The soulsword clanged against his invulnerable skin, sending him snaking to the left. He roared, it was nothing short of animalistic, as he turned back towards her and launched a second attack.

As Illyana continued her battle, the Nova Roman Amara Aquilla stepped forward. She had spent so much of her life conflicted and uncertain of herself, even her own identity, but no longer. Golden hair slithered from her armoured shoulders with each step. She moved with the grace of a dancer, her arms swaying languidly as she stared down her serpentine enemy, the Gladiator known as Viperion. Amara had been one of the first recruited into the merry band of mutants after the originals had started on their adventures. The beauty had quickly turned heads and earned the respect of her friends, it was hard to underestimate a woman who could make the very earth dance on her slightest whim. Viperion snarled and hissed, snapping at the mutant as she approached, fire springing to life at her heels. Stretching her hands outward, Amara's skin rippled with hues of orange as she burst into flames. Jumping forward, Magma caught Viperion by the neck, her touch burning its skin, and launched him into the nearby wall.

As Magma moved forward, she smiled menacingly. "This is gonna be quick."

Behind her, the cone-bra wearing Ivich Williamson – outdated as the green skinned mutant looked – was whimpering on her knees as Danielle Moonstar infiltrated her mind, utilising her deepest fears and projecting them into the Gladiator's mind without restraint. Twin blades lay unused just within her reach as the woman desperately clawed for her mental freedom. It seemed as though the Native American mutant had already proven victorious until the murkiness of Ivich's eyes began to clear and the green-skinned woman rolled forward, catching a hold of her swords as she bounded upright. There was a moment of hesitation in Mirage's reaction. In the years since she'd left behind the Xavier Institute and the New Mutants, eventually making her way to Force Works, she had grown as a warrior. There had always been a recklessness to the woman's bravery, Danielle had been prone to throwing herself into situations with little regard for herself because she knew the pro's by far outweighed the con's but now she doubted her capability, even if just for a moment, and that could prove deadly. She narrowly managed to duck beneath the swing of Ivich's weapons.